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A South-facing Escarpment located in the North/Western part of the Martian Region known as Hellas Planitia (a target that was chosen for the research of Phyllosilicates) showed us the presence, inside the Rocks (---> mostly in their horizontal cracks) forming it, of a pale bluish Material, barely visible in this Absolute Natural Color image. The CRISM Spectra of such Material showed that it consists of a combination of Chlorite and Water Ice. This image was captured by the NASA - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter during the Southern Martian Winter, such as in the time period when the Southern Hemisphere's South-facing Escarpments (just like this one) of the Red Planet retain Water Ice Deposits that formed during that dark, long and extremely cold Season. Mars Local Time: 15:36 (Middle Afternoon) This picture (which is a NASA - Original Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter NON-Map Projected false color EDM frame identified by the serial n. ESP_027758_1530-1) has been additionally processed, magnified to aid the visibility of the details, contrast enhanced and then re-colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and then looked down, towards the Surface of Mars), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. |